Search for complete phrases including words used as Boolean operators by enclosing the phrase in single quotes and placing double quotes around the Boolean operator.

Example: 'women "AND" coronary heart disease'

Multiple Words

When searching multiple words, the system will automatically supply the Boolean "AND" operator between each word. The words entered will all occur somewhere in the records retrieved, though not necessarily in the order entered. The examples below will retrieve the same results.

Examples:

World Health Organization

world AND health AND organization

Wildcard & Truncation Symbols

? for 1 character

You may use a question mark (?) to replace a single character anywhere within a word.

Example: wom?n will pull up matches containing "woman" and "women"

$ for any number of characters

The dollar sign truncation symbol can be used to replace any number of characters at the end of a word.

Boolean Operators

Use AND or OR to specify multiple words in any field, in any order. Use NOT to exclude words.

These operators may be entered in either uppercase, lowercase, or mixed case (e.g., "NOT," "not," and "Not" are equivalent).

Examples:

diet AND exercise

diet or exercise

diet Not exercise

Grouping Search Terms

Use parentheses to construct complex searches.

Examples:

(annotated bibliography) AND child*

(angina or "chest pain") AND (women not men)

Proximity Operators

NEAR

The NEAR operator is used to retrieve records that contain the specified words or phrases next to each other in the same field, but not necessarily in the order entered.

Example: international NEAR conference

SAME

The SAME operator is used to retrieve records that contain all of the specified words or phrases in the same field, but not necessarily in the same sentence or in the order entered.

Example: women SAME diabetes

WITH

The WITH operator is used to retrieve records with all of the entered terms in the same sentence of a field, but not necessarily in the order entered.

Example: genetics WITH diet

Field Suffixes

Specifying Search Fields

Use the Advanced Search[1] drop-down menu or the Basic Search[2] icons to limit your search to a particular field or fields. When performing a "Words or Phrase" search, you may use field suffixes to specify which fields are searched.

The example below will search for "Jones" as author, "Cancer" in the title, and "Neoplasms" in the subject fields.

Example: jones {au} cancer {ti} neoplasms {su}

Search Types

Words or Phrase

This type of search will usually bring up a large number of results. Results may include search words or phrases in the title, author's name, subject headings, table of contents, or anywhere else in the record.

You may use Boolean operators, proximity operators, and field suffixes when doing this type of search.

Examples:

diet AND exercise

men SAME hypertension

poverty {ti}

Author Search

Type the author's last name first, or type the author's first name first.

Enter only one author. To search multiple authors, use the "Words or Phrase" search.

Entry is not case-sensitive, punctuation is not required, and the final word entered may be truncated.

Examples:

Everett, Carl

Carl Everett

Luibel

O'Sullivan

harrison tins

still, a

American Medical Assoc

Title Search

Starting with the first word, type as much or as little of the title as you want. The search is not case-sensitive and any initial article such as "A," "An," or "The" may be omitted.

Unless you are sure that they are part of the title, do not enter abbreviations or acronyms.

If you are unsure of the title or if your title search is unsuccessful, try a "Words or Phrases" search instead.

Examples:

A Guide to Patient Safety

Guide to Patient Safety

guide to pat

Journal Title Search

Starting with the first word, type as much or as little of the title as you want. The search is not case-sensitive and any initial article such as "A," "An," or "The" may be omitted.

Unless you are sure that they are part of the title, do not enter abbreviations or acronyms.

If you are unsure of the title or if your title search is unsuccessful, try a "Words or Phrases" search instead.

Examples:

The Bone & Joint Journal

Bone & Joint Journal

bone and joint

Subject Search

Subject Search uses the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) developed by the National Library of Medicine. With a few exceptions, such as names of people, other terms will not get results.

Type as much or as little of a subject heading as you want, but only the final word may be truncated. Entry is not case-sensitive.

If you do not find what you are looking for with a Subject Search, try a "Words or Phrase" search instead.

Examples:

Influenza Vaccines

Neoplasms -- therapy

health status disp

diabet

Series Search

Type as much or as little of the series name as you want. The search is not case-sensitive and any initial article such as "A," "An," or "The" may be omitted.

If you are unsure of the series name or if your search is unsuccessful, try a "Words or Phrases" search instead.

Examples:

Mosby physiology monograph series

Wiley series in probability and statistics

ISBN

Type the ISBN as it appears in the example below.

Example: 9780470082898

ISSN

Type the ISSN as it appears in the example below.

Example: 0001-9402

Call Number Search

Call numbers may be searched using the "Words or Phrase" search or the Call Number Search[3] page. Starting at the beginning, type as much or as little of the call number as you want. Entry is not case-sensitive.

Examples:

QW 504 S697h 2008s

qw 504

qw

Finding Similar Items

If you locate an item on your topic, there are several options available to find similar items. The options below may be found on the left-hand side of the "Item Details" page in the catalog.

Find More by this Author

Use this link to find other materials in the catalog written by the same author.

Example: If the author of the item you find is Steven M. Teutsch, clicking on the "Find more by this Author" option will pull up other works authored, co-authored or edited by Teutsch.

Find More on these Topics

Use this link to find other materials in the catalog with the same subject heading or headings.

Example: If one of the subject headings of the item you find is "Health Services," clicking on the "Find More on these Topics" option will pull up other items with the same subject heading.

Example: If the call number of the item you find is "WA 100 F459P 2013," clicking on the "Nearby items on Shelf" option will bring up other materials in this call number range. Materials located in the "WA" call number class, for example, will be on topic of Public Health.